"Her plans for the future include returning to school to become a
physiotherapist, and eventually starting some kind of basketball or sports
program for children in Eritrea."
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/fashion-beauty/Edmonton+teen+basketball+dreams+morph+into+international+modelling+stardom/9449698/story.html?__lsa=cc5d-f137
Edmonton teen's basketball dreams morph into international modelling stardom
By Marta Gold, Edmonton Journal January 31, 2014
[image: Edmonton teen’s basketball dreams morph into international
modelling stardom]
Model Grace Mahary grew up playing sports in Edmonton.*Photograph by: *Elmer
Olsen Models , Supplied
EDMONTON - While some teens dream of getting discovered by a modelling
scout, Edmonton's Grace Mahary kept turning them down.
Instead of fashion runways and couture clothing, the tall, leggy beauty
dreamed of sweaty locker rooms and sick slam dunks. Like her two older
brothers, she wanted to play basketball, or maybe study medicine.
"I wanted to be what I called an NBA doctor," says the 24-year-old with a
laugh. "I wanted to somehow make it to the NBA and still be a doctor."
At least a couple of times while still a teenager in Edmonton, she was
approached by scouts looking to get her into modelling, but she always
refused.
"I was like, 'No way. I don't want to do this.' I was a girl who wasn't
interested in being a pageant queen. I didn't really know what modelling
was and I didn't think much of it."
The daughter of Eritrean immigrants who fell in love during the war for
independence in their homeland, escaping through Sudan to start a new life
in Edmonton, Grace and her brothers grew up playing sports.
The slim teen who grew to be 5' 11" played volleyball and soccer before
settling on basketball as her passion. And despite her brothers' strong
influence, she did love her girlie toys as a child.
"I used to collect Barbies like a madwoman, and Polly Pocket. I used to
love Polly Pocket -- those little houses -- and Easy Bake ovens. My top
three."
Still, her mother considered her a tomboy because she hated wearing dresses
and styling her hair.
The irony of her current job, which sees her living in New York and jetting
around the world to dress up and have her hair coiffed, is not lost on her,
she says.
"Did I ever think that? All the time. It's like, 'Where am I? What is
this?'"
It was a meeting with modelling agency owner Elmer Olsen in Toronto that
finally convinced her to give modelling a chance.
She had been approached yet again while visiting family in Toronto one
summer at the age of 16. She dismissed the offer at first, but Olsen is "a
very persistent man."
He promised the teen if she moved to Toronto, she could model part-time,
continue with high school, and most important, play basketball.
"That was probably the toughest decision I made," she says of leaving
Edmonton's Archbishop O'Leary High School, where she had been recruited to
play basketball. "I really loved the girls and I loved my coach and the
program was just so exceptional," she says. "I was really broken when I had
to cut that off."
True to her deal with Olsen, she moved to Toronto and played basketball at
Jarvis Collegiate, modelling on the side. "I was going to castings and
basketball practice and doing homework. It was a whirlwind," she says.
Living in Toronto opened her eyes to the world, she adds. "It's a very
diverse city and I loved it. Growing up in Edmonton, I didn't know anyone
who looked like me ... (In Toronto) it was the first time I'd ever heard my
language (Tigrinya) spoken on the street."
She won Elle Canada's model search and had lots of support in the fashion
industry, but "my mind was still in trying to be a normal kid, and that to
me meant playing basketball, playing sports and going to school."
She decided to give up modelling so she could study physiotherapy and play
basketball at the University of Toronto.
But one day during a practice over the Christmas break, a teammate's elbow
caught her in the mouth. Bleeding, her tooth knocked in, "I thought, 'maybe
I should give this (modelling) a chance before it's over ... I didn't give it
a full shot. Why am I quitting?' "
She finished her year and her season at U of T, then took a deferral from
school at 21 to travel overseas to model.
That first season in Europe in 2012, she landed a coveted exclusive
contract with Givenchy to walk the runway during Paris Fashion Week.
"The next season, I blew up," she says of her sudden popularity. In
September and October of 2012 (considered the spring/summer fashion
season), she "walked" for about 30 clients she estimates, including Chanel,
Louis Vuitton, Prada and Miu Miu.
During the next fashion season in February/March 2013, she modelled for
about 50 clients during the month-long extravaganza that includes fashion
weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris.
"That month is insane," she says. "A season to me meant like a basketball
season where it's nine months long and you don't do 50 games in one month,"
she adds.
While the fashion season is exhausting, "at the end of it, it's quite
rewarding -- it's exposure, and parts of it are really fun."
The down sides are the loneliness that can come from so much travelling and
working. "There's a lot of down time alone and you really just wish you
could have someone with you," she says.
But the extensive travel is also one of the best parts, she adds. "I do
love to see the world. That's why I did this -- modelling was not my
interest; seeing the world and meeting people was."
Her plans for the future include returning to school to become a
physiotherapist, and eventually starting some kind of basketball or sports
program for children in Eritrea.
She's also branched out into commercials and is taking some acting classes.
Her parents still live in Edmonton, but she hopes to move them eventually
to be closer to her; her brothers both live in Toronto.
Despite her high-profile career, the sought-after international supermodel
still occasionally gets the chance to play basketball.
"One of my good friends from Toronto moved down (to New York), so whenever
we see a court, or whenever we have time, we shoot some hoops," she says.
Has she lost any of her skills? "Totally; I suck," she adds with a laugh.
mgold_at_edmontonjournal.com
Received on Sat Feb 22 2014 - 15:40:17 EST